1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system for point-of-sale, and inventory management, appointment scheduling, and client payments with multiple payment methods including credit cards. The system is particularly related to businesses where there can be independent operators (e.g. vendors) within the business such as beauty salons.
2. Description of the Related Art
VERIFONE® sells payment systems. An example of a countertop terminal used for making single charges is sold by VERIFONE® under the trade name OMNI 3750.
Prior-art credit-card terminals can bill a credit card and credit a corresponding merchant account. The terminal reads account information from a card, for example, by swiping the card and reading account information from the credit card's magnetic strip. An amount to be held or charged is entered into the terminal. The terminal then makes a connection to a credit-card processor or payment gateway, both of which are referred to in this application as a “processor”. The processor charges (i.e. deducts) from the credit-card account related to the credit card that was read. The processor charges a fee for processing the transaction. The processor transfers the remaining balance to the merchant account (i.e. the account of the merchant who is selling the service or the good). A client (i.e. a purchaser) can request a return credit. In such a case, the purchase price and processing fee are returned to the client's credit-card account.
Existing terminals read only one credit card and credit only one merchant account in a given transaction.
Some credit card terminals (e.g. VERIFONE® OMNI 3750) can be programmed to support multiple merchant accounts. However, each client transaction can be directed to only one of the given merchant accounts at a time. In other words, the system does not allow a client transaction to be split among merchant accounts.
In beauty salons for example, scheduling is important and difficult when a client is using multiple independent vendors who pay “rent” to operate and should receive all monies charged from a client (vendors, for example, a colorist, a hair cutter, and a manicurist). Typically, a client will want to schedule appointments sequentially. In addition, different clients want different combinations of vendors. The vendors want combinations that allow them to make the most money in a given period of time without them being idle.
Current systems use paper calendar books to “block out” scheduled time. Such systems are not able to optimize a schedule to meet the needs listed previously, and are inflexible while offering no reporting capabilities.
A need exists to track client preferences, purchases, and scheduling and to tie them to the scheduling system.
Customers and merchants need a system to provide a single transaction in which multiple vendors are credited. The system needs to be able to accommodate multiple payment means. The system needs to be able to credit a client from multiple merchant accounts for a refund.
When merchants work within a salon, a system that credits the salon's merchant account and then pays to the merchant account, results in extra credit-card processing fees being charged compared to a single transaction. Likewise, if the money is paid to the merchant account, and then the merchant pays a portion to the house's merchant account, then an extra credit-card processing occurs. Accordingly, there is a need to pay merchants and a house without paying extra credit-card processing fees.
Applying for a credit-card merchant account may take a merchant at least several days and may extend into weeks. Some merchants may not have established the necessary prerequisites for a credit-card merchant account so the merchant may never qualify. Without a credit-card merchant account, the merchant cannot receive credit-card payments directly. If a system is in place in a business where all of the other merchants are being paid directly into merchant accounts, the existence of a merchant without an account may make the accounting for the new merchant much more difficult for the business. Accordingly, a need exists for quickly provisioning a new merchant in a multi-vendor business with a credit card merchant account.